Government study: 1 in 12 drivers admit driving drunk

One in 12 drivers admitted driving drunk at least once over the course of a year, a government survey released Wednesday found.

One in five, or 20% of the 6,999 people surveyed, said they had driven in the past year within two hours of drinking an alcoholic beverage. Yet an overwhelming majority — four out of five people — consider drinking and driving a major threat to their safety, according to the 2008 survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

“We have to do more as a country to close the gap between believing that drunk driving is a threat and actively doing something about it,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said.